Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Real events too strange to have made the textbook.
Klukwan, AK
Operated in the Tlingit village of Klukwan, the heritage center preserves clan treasures, monumental carvings and the celebrated Whale House collection. Visits should follow posted cultural protocols and seasonal schedules rather than treating the village as an unrestricted attraction.
Lexington, KY
Actor Jim Varney, best remembered as Ernest P. Worrell and the original voice of Slinky Dog, is buried in Lexington Cemetery. Fans frequently leave Mello Yello cans, photos and other Ernest-related objects at his grave.
Renton, WA
An elaborate granite memorial marks the grave of guitarist Jimi Hendrix at Greenwood Memorial Park. It functions as both a cemetery monument and a pilgrimage site for music fans, so cemetery etiquette applies.
Meridian, MS
A museum devoted to Meridian native Jimmie Rodgers and his foundational influence on country music, including memorabilia connected to the "Singing Brakeman." Current hours are limited compared with a large daily museum, so check before visiting.
Osawatomie, KS
The preserved Adair cabin is associated with abolitionist John Brown and the violent struggle over whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state. The small museum sits directly within the landscape of Bleeding Kansas rather than treating it as distant history.
Grand Detour, IL
The reconstructed blacksmith shop and archaeological remains mark where John Deere developed the polished steel plow that transformed Midwestern farming.
Indianapolis, IN
Bank robber John Dillinger was killed by federal agents in Chicago in 1934 and returned to Indianapolis for burial in Crown Hill Cemetery. His granite grave has long attracted visitors interested in Depression-era outlaw history and has reportedly been replaced or repaired after decades of souvenir damage.
Portland, ME
Portland honors legendary director John Ford with a bronze statue showing him seated in a director’s chair with his trademark hat and pipe. Stones surrounding the sculpture recognize the films that earned Ford Academy Awards, linking an ordinary downtown corner to one of Hollywood’s most influential filmmakers.
Bancroft, NE
The site preserves the study of poet and writer John G. Neihardt, whose work includes the influential and controversial Black Elk Speaks. Exhibits examine his life, writing and relationships with Native people, giving travelers useful historical context beyond the book’s mythology.
Apalachicola, FL
Museum honoring the doctor whose ice-making experiments helped lead to mechanical refrigeration and air conditioning.
Cambridge, MA
Harvard's famous bronze founder statue is nicknamed the Statue of Three Lies: the figure is not actually modeled on John Harvard, he was not technically the university's founder, and the inscribed founding date does not match the institution's history precisely. Students and tourists also rub its shoe for luck.
Annapolis, MD
Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones died in Paris in 1792, disappeared beneath a later development, and was rediscovered more than a century afterward before being returned to the United States. His ornate black-and-white marble sarcophagus now sits beneath the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel; visitors must follow Naval Academy identification and security rules.
Providence, RI
Army officer John Rogers Vinton was killed during the Mexican-American War, and his Swan Point Cemetery monument incorporates a cannonball into the memorial. The unusual detail has made the grave one of the cemetery's most memorable military monuments. The coordinate routes to Swan Point; ask cemetery staff for current directions to the Vinton monument and follow photography rules. Secondary source: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/61358
Paducah, KY
John T. Scopes, the teacher prosecuted in the famous 1925 "Monkey Trial" for teaching evolution in Tennessee, was a Paducah native and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery. A historical marker near the cemetery entrance explains the trial and its role in the continuing American conflict over science, religion and education.
El Paso, TX
Notorious gunfighter John Wesley Hardin is buried in Concordia Cemetery beneath a distinctive marker.
Baltimore, MD
Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth is buried in the Booth family plot at Green Mount Cemetery beneath a small, deliberately unremarkable marker. Visitors often leave pennies on the stone, but the cemetery is an active burial ground and should only be visited during its posted daytime hours.
Kawaihae, HI
The remains of the homestead of John Young, a British sailor who became a trusted adviser to Kamehameha I, sit within Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site. His life embodies the rapid fusion of Hawaiian politics with imported firearms, ships, and military knowledge.
Dyess, AR
Johnny Cash grew up in this five-room farmhouse in the New Deal-era Dyess Colony. Restored as a historic site, it preserves the landscape and living conditions that shaped much of Cash’s music.
Island Park, ID
Hand-built log cabin known for Johnny Sack's elaborate bark-covered furnishings and woodworking, beside Big Springs. Interior tours are typically seasonal.
Tunica, MS
A prehistoric mound incorporated into a later historic cemetery landscape in the northern Delta. It is part of the Mississippi Mound Trail but should be experienced only from lawful public viewing areas.
East Haddam, CT
A nineteenth-century mill village of old houses and industrial buildings survives along the Moodus River after decades of abandonment and repeated attempts at redevelopment. The village is now private property, so OddWay visitors should view only from lawful public roads and never enter buildings or grounds without permission.
Joliet, IL
Trails wind through the heavy foundations and archaeological remains of a once-enormous iron and steel complex beside the old canal corridor.
Muskegon, MI
Abolitionist sea captain Jonathan Walker was branded on his right hand with the letters "SS" for "slave stealer" after attempting to help seven enslaved people escape from Florida in 1844. His monument stands just inside Evergreen Cemetery and prominently reproduces the branded hand that became a symbol of the antislavery movement.
West Des Moines, IA
The Jordan House was a documented Underground Railroad stop and home of abolitionist James C. Jordan. Guided visits connect the suburban mansion to secret movement of freedom seekers before the Civil War.
